Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL amending Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 as regards the territorial typologies (Tercet)
Date: 2016-12-13
Institutions: European Commission, Eurostat
Subjects: EU statistics, administrative unit, classification, data collection, regional statistics, statistical method, statistical nomenclature

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 13.12.2016  COM(2016) 788 final 2016/0393 (COD)   Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL amending Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 as regards the territorial typologies (Tercet) (Text with EEA relevance)  
 
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 

1. 

• 

CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL 

Reasons for and objectives of the proposal 

Eurostat publishes European statistics in many statistical domains at regional level according 
to  Regulation  (EC)  No  1059/2003(1)  on  the  establishment  of  a  common  classification  of 
territorial  units  for  statistics  (NUTS).  These  statistics  are  widely  used  in  the  context  of  EU 
regional  policy  and  to  determine  eligibility  for  regions  under  the  cohesion  funds.  Over  the 
past  few  years,  Eurostat  has  expanded  the  range  of  statistics  published  on  a  number  of 
territorial  typologies  to  address  EU  policy-makers’  increasing  need  for  such  data  in  the 
context of cohesion and territorial development policies. The Commission has defined these 
territorial  typologies  in  cooperation  with  the  Organisation  for  Economic  Cooperation  and 
Development (OECD), and adopted methodologies to set up and maintain them. The NUTS 
Regulation  does  not  yet  include  or  legally  define  these  territorial  typologies  to  determine 
urban, rural, coastal and/or other areas and regions in the EU, although they are already being 
used. The fact that these typologies and their methodologies have no legal recognition and are 
not formally recognised by the European Statistical System (ESS) is an issue that needs to be 
addressed to establish them as recognised, impartial and transparent statistical typologies. 

The main policy objectives of the initiative are the following. 
1. Establish a legal recognition of territorial typologies, including the definition of cities, for 
the purpose of European statistics 

A regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 will integrate the territorial typologies 
into  the  current  NUTS  Regulation.  This  will  make  it  possible  for  thematic  statistical 
regulations  and  policy  initiatives  to  refer  to  these  territorial  typologies  for  the  purpose  of 
collecting European statistics and/or to target specific territories such as cities, urban, rural or 
coastal areas and regions in policy. The initiative will therefore cover the existing territorial 
typologies based on NUTS level 3 (e.g. urban-rural typology, metropolitan regions), the local 
administrative units (e.g. degree of urbanisation, cities, coastal areas) and the 1 km² grid level 
required  to  calculate  the  other  typologies,  which  are  based  on  population  distribution  and 
density in the grid cells. 
2. Lay down the core definitions and statistical criteria for the different territorial typologies 
To  create  methodological  transparency  and  to  safeguard  the  stability  of  the  territorial 
typologies over time, the core definitions and criteria for creating and updating the typologies 
need to be specified in the regulation and its implementing provisions. For this purpose, the 
initiative will use the already existing methodologies for the different typologies. 
3. Ensure harmonised and transparent application and use of the territorial typologies at EU 
level and in Member States 

The initiative aims to improve the comparability and stability of the typologies. This will have 
a positive impact on the compilation and dissemination of European regional statistics. 

4. In the context of the alignment of Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 to the new rules of the 
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), powers currently conferred on the 
Commission by that regulation to adopt acts designed to amend non-essential elements of the 

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Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 May 2003 on the 
establishment of a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS) (OJ L 154, 21.6.2003, 
p. 1). 

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regulation  by  supplementing  it,  in  accordance  with  the  regulatory  procedure  with  scrutiny, 
should be provided for by powers to adopt delegated acts. 

• 

Consistency with existing policy provisions in the policy area 

This  proposal  would  incorporate  typologies  into  the  NUTS  Regulation  which  interlink  with 
several  statistical  domains,  like  regional  accounts,  the  labour  market,  rural  development, 
agriculture, tourism,  maritime  policy  and  more.  It  would  make  it  possible  to  aggregate  data 
according to clear-cut typologies: for instance making it possible to compare GDP in rural as 
opposed  to  urban  areas,  tourist  nights  spent  in  coastal  as  opposed  to  non-coastal  areas  and 
regions, employment/unemployment by degree of urbanisation and much more. 

Concepts like the degree of urbanisation can also be used to supply data to the UN on urban 
and rural areas. 

• 

Consistency with other Union policies 

The  territorial  typologies  have  a  major  impact  on  regional  policies  under  the  overarching 
objectives of the Europe 2020 initiative(2). For instance, EU cohesion policies aim to reduce 
disparities  among  EU  regions  and  to  promote  growth,  employment  and  sustainable 
development  in  disadvantaged  regions  and  areas.  Over  the  past  few  years,  there  has  been  a 
greater  focus  on  evidence-based  policy  interventions  and  more  integrated  territorial 
approaches that reflect the diversity of EU regions, e.g. in terms of employment, demography, 
poverty, education or economic activity. Analyses of regional policies emphasise the need to 
investigate  the  significant  urban-rural  differences,  which  are  not  uniform  across  Member 
States  (see,  for  example,  the  Sixth  report  on  economic,  social  and  territorial  Cohesion(3)). 
Cohesion  policy  2014-2020  emphasises  territorial  development  strategies  focusing  on  urban 
and rural, but also coastal areas. The principles for the Cohesion Policy 2014-2020 set out in 
the  Common  Strategic  Framework(4)  stress  that  the  approaches  to  promoting  smart, 
sustainable and inclusive growth must reflect the role of cities, urban, rural and coastal areas 
and take urban-rural linkages into account. The degree of urbanisation typology was recently 
used  in  Regulation  (EU)  No  522/2014(5)  to  define  eligibility  for  European  Regional 
Development Fund support to carry out innovative actions in cities or towns and suburbs. 

2. 

• 

LEGAL BASIS, SUBSIDIARITY AND PROPORTIONALITY 

Legal basis 

Article 338 TFEU provides the legal basis for European statistics. Acting in accordance with 
the ordinary legislative procedure, the European Parliament and the Council adopt measures 
for the production of statistics where this is necessary for the EU to carry out its role. 

• 

Subsidiarity (for non-exclusive competence) 

The  subsidiarity  principle  applies  insofar  as  the  proposal  does  not  fall  under  the  exclusive 
competence  of  the  EU.  Member  States  acting  independently  cannot  sufficiently  achieve  the 
objectives of the proposed action, namely introducing the necessary components with regard 
to territorial typologies. Action can be taken more efficiently at EU level, on the basis of an 

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http://ec.europa.eu/europe2020/index_en.htm. 
http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/information/publications/reports/2014/6th-report-on-economic-
social-and-territorial-cohesion. 
OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 320. 
OJ L 148, 20.5.2014, p. 1. 

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EU  legal  act,  to  establish,  coordinate  and  maintain  harmonised  statistical  classifications, 
including territorial typologies for statistical purposes at EU level. 

• 

Proportionality 

The  initiative  proposes  to  amend  the  current  NUTS  Regulation  not  more  than  absolutely 
necessary. Given the need for a formal recognition of territorial typologies for statistics and 
policy-making, it aims to amend the NUTS Regulation to incorporate the territorial typologies 
into  the  legal  framework  without  modifying  the  fundamental  principles  or  the  structure  and 
definitions of the NUTS regions, which are well accepted, well proven and undisputed. 
This option is considered the most balanced approach to reconciling the need to take action 
with the intention to limit the scope of the initiative to the minimum required to achieve the 
objectives. Since it is a legal codification of existing typologies and their components and the 
Commission  (Eurostat)  will  manage  the  assignment  of  the  typologies,  it  entails  only 
negligible  additional  costs  for  national  statistical  institutes  and  no  costs  for  businesses  or 
citizens. 

• 

Choice of instrument 

Proposed instrument: a regulation. 

Given the objectives and content of the proposal and the fact that this is a proposal amending 
an existing regulation, a regulation is the most appropriate instrument. 

3. 

• 

RESULTS 
CONSULTATIONS AND IMPACT ASSESSMENTS 

EX-POST 

EVALUATIONS, 

OF 

STAKEHOLDER 

Ex-post evaluations/fitness checks of existing legislation 

The  existing  legislation  does  not  yet  include  the  typologies,  making  it  very  difficult  to 
establish and to ensure uniform conditions for harmonised application. 

• 

Stakeholder consultations 

The  stakeholders  this  proposal  affects  are  mainly  the  Member  States’  national  statistical 
institutes.  The Commission  (Eurostat) involved their experts since the very early stages  and 
very much relied on their feedback and expertise in drafting the proposal. 
As the main policy user of regional data, the Commission’s Directorate-General for Regional 
and  Urban  Policy  (DG  REGIO)  was  consulted  several  times  and  also  provided  valuable 
feedback. 
Given  the  technical  nature  of  this  proposal,  it  was  not  considered  necessary  to  involve  any 
other body. 

• 

Collection and use of expertise 

The  concepts  of  the  typologies  were  developed  in  close  collaboration  with  Eurostat,  DG 
REGIO and the Joint Research Centre, which provided core technical input, and the OECD, 
by  bringing  together  a  number  of  previously  existing  concepts  and  their  different 
methodologies. 

The OECD uses the harmonised typologies for statistical and analytical purposes too. 

• 

Impact assessment 

No  impact  assessment  was  carried  out  because  the  proposal  does  not  have  significant 
economic,  social  and  environmental  consequences  and  imposes  no  additional  burden  on 

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businesses  or  citizens.  The  initiative  aims  mainly  to  complement  the  current  NUTS 
Regulation with the necessary elements to take into account recent developments in territorial 
classifications for statistical purposes. 

• 

Regulatory fitness and simplification 

The codification of the territorial typologies in the NUTS Regulation makes it unnecessary to 
define and explain them in other specific legal acts, for instance acts related to cities or rural 
development.  This  simplifies  and  harmonises  legislation  related  to  urban  and  rural 
development and maritime policy. 

• 

Fundamental rights 

This proposal does not affect fundamental rights. 

4. 

BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS 

The proposal has no implications for the EU budget. 

5. 

• 

OTHER ELEMENTS 

Implementation plans and monitoring, evaluation and reporting arrangements 

Since, despite not being legally recognised, the typologies are already in use, it is not planned 
to  draw  up  any  particular  implementation  plans  or  monitoring  provisions.  In  principle,  the 
procedure to determine and publish the typologies is the following. 

The  Commission  (Eurostat)  does  the  necessary  calculations  to  assign  the  typologies  when 
new  data  on  population  distribution  and  density  in  the  grid  cells  become  available.  This  is 
usually  the  case  after  a  census.  Smaller  updates  to  capture  changes  in  the  local  or  regional 
structure of the Member States can be done annually for the Member States concerned. 

After the Commission (Eurostat) has done these initial calculations, it shares the results with 
the  Member  States.  They  can  verify  or  modify  them  on  the  basis  of  particular  geographical 
circumstances for example. 

After  agreeing  on  the  results  with  the  Member  States,  the  Commission  (Eurostat)  publishes 
them on the dedicated websites. 

It  is  necessary  to  put  uniform  conditions  in  place  to  harmonise  the  typologies.  The 
Commission should be empowered to do so for the implementation of the typologies by way 
of implementing acts. 

• 

Detailed explanation of the specific provisions of the proposal 

Since the proposal does not change the widely accepted and well proven essence of the NUTS 
Regulation, it amends no more than absolutely necessary to achieve its objectives. 

It is proposed to amend or replace some provisions of Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 for the 
following reasons. 

- Article 1 

The  new  Article  1  broadens  the  subject  matter  of  the  NUTS  Regulation  by  adding  the 
territorial typologies and the statistical grids needed to calculate them based on the population 
distribution and density in the single grid cells.  It also clarifies the role and labelling of the 
local  administrative  units  (LAU),  whose  labelling  is  inconsistent  in  the  current  NUTS 
Regulation (such as ‘components of NUTS’ and ‘smaller administrative units’). 

- Article 2 

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In Article 2, paragraph 5 is deleted. It refers to a communication that was due in 2005, two 
years  after  the  entry  into  force  of  the  original  NUTS  Regulation  in  2003.  It  is  therefore 
obsolete. 

- Article 3 

In  Article  3,  paragraph  4  is  adapted  to  the  new  institutional  procedures  introduced  by  the 
Lisbon Treaty (by changing from the regulatory procedure with scrutiny to delegated acts). 

In paragraph 5, the last sentence is deleted since it is no longer relevant to attribute any power 
to the Commission in that respect. 

- Article 4 

Article 4 sets out the LAU. The provisions on the transmission requirements are also clarified 
and simplified. These were previously not understood in a coherent way. 

Finally, the Commission is given the power to adopt delegated acts to adapt the list of LAU in 
Annex III of the NUTS Regulation. 

- Article 4a 

Article  4a  is  inserted  to  introduce  the  statistical  grids  that  the  Commission  (Eurostat)  will 
maintain and  publish, as a basis  for  calculating the territorial  typologies  for the regions and 
areas. 

- Article 4b 

The  new  Article  4b  introduces  the  typologies  themselves  and  gives  the  Commission 
implementing power to put uniform conditions in place for their harmonised application. 

- Article 5 

In the new Article 5, the wording and phrasing are clarified and simplified. The Commission 
is given the power to adopt delegated acts to adapt the NUTS classification in Annex I of the 
NUTS Regulation. 

- Articles 7 and 7a 

Article  7  is  updated  to  refer  to  the  competent  committee  that  assists  the  Commission  when 
adopting implementing acts, while the new Article 7a concerns the exercise of delegation in 
accordance with the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making. 

- Article 8 

Article 8 is deleted. It stipulated a report on the implementation of the NUTS Regulation that 
was  due  in  2006,  three  years  after  the  entry  into  force  of  the  original  NUTS  Regulation  in 
2003. It is therefore obsolete. 

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2016/0393 (COD) 

Proposal for a 

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 

amending Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 as regards the territorial typologies (Tercet) 

(Text with EEA relevance) 

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, 

Having  regard  to  the  Treaty  on  the  Functioning  of  the  European  Union,  and  in  particular 
Article 338(1) thereof, 

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission, 

After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments, 
Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee(1), 
Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions(2), 

Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, 

Whereas: 

(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

(4) 

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Regulation  (EC)  No 1059/2003  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council(3)  of 
26 May  2003  establishes  a  common  classification  of  territorial  units  for  statistics 
(Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics NUTS) in order to enable the collection, 
compilation and dissemination of harmonised regional statistics in the EU. 

For better targeted policy-making, the Commission, in collaboration with the OECD, 
has defined a number of territorial typologies to classify the statistical units established 
by the NUTS Regulation. 

The European Statistical System (ESS) already uses those typologies, in particular the 
degree  of  urbanisation,  including  the  definition  of  cities  in  order,  for  instance,  to 
define  eligibility  for  European  Regional  Development  Fund  support  to  carry  out 
innovative actions in cities or towns and suburbs(4). 

The  codification  of  the  typologies  is  necessary  in  order  to  set  out  unambiguous 
definitions of and conditions for territorial types, ensuring harmonised and transparent 
application and making the typologies stable. This should support the compilation and 
dissemination of European statistics. 

OJ C , , p. . 
OJ C , , p. . 
Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 May 2003 on the 
establishment of a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS) (OJ L 154, 21.6.2003, 
p.1). 
OJ L 148, 20.5.2014, p. 1. 

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(5) 

(6) 

(7) 

A system of statistical grids should apply to calculate and attribute the territorial types 
to the regions and areas in question, since these depend on the population distribution 
and density in grid cells of one square kilometre. 

A  number  of  minor  aspects  of  the  local  administrative  units  (LAU)  should  also  be 
clarified to simplify terminology and the delivery mechanism of the lists of LAU from 
the Member States to the Commission (Eurostat). 

In order to adapt to corresponding developments in the Member States, the power to 
adopt  acts  in  accordance  with  Article  290  of  the  Treaty  should  be  delegated  to  the 
Commission with regard to amending the NUTS classification in Annex I, the list of 
existing  administrative  units  in  Annex  II  and  the  list  of  local  administrative  units  in 
Annex  III  of  Regulation  (EC)  No 1059/2003.  It  is  of  particular  importance  that  the 
Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including 
at  expert  level,  and  that  those  consultations  be  conducted  in  accordance  with  the 
principles  set  out  in  the  Interinstitutional  Agreement  on  Better  Law-Making  of  13 
April  2016(5).  In  particular,  to  ensure  equal  participation  in  the  preparation  of 
delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the 
same  time  as  Member  State  experts,  and  their  experts  systematically  have  access  to 
meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts. 

(8) 

In  order  to  ensure  uniform  conditions  for  the  implementation  of  this  regulation, 
implementing  powers  should  be  conferred  on  the  Commission  in  respect  of  the 
application of territorial typologies and the time series the Member States are to give 
to the Commission in case of amendments to the NUTS classification. Those powers 
should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European 
Parliament and of the Council(6). 

(9) 

Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 should therefore be amended accordingly, 

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: 

Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 is amended as follows: 

(1) 

Article 1 is replaced by the following: 

Article 1 

‘Article 1 

Subject matter 

1.  This  regulation  establishes  a  common  statistical  classification  of  territorial  units 
(NUTS),  in  order  to  enable  the  collection,  compilation  and  dissemination  of 
harmonised statistics at different territorial levels of the EU. 

2. The NUTS classification is set out in Annex I. 

3. Local administrative units (LAU), as referred to in Article 4, shall complement the 
NUTS classification. 

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OJ L 123, 12.5.2016, p. 1. 
Regulation  (EU)  No  182/2011  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  16  February  2011 
laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control by Member States of 
the Commission’s exercise of implementing powers (OJ L 55, 28.2.2011, p. 13). 

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4.  Statistical  grids,  as  referred  to  in  Article  4a,  shall  complement  the  NUTS 
classification. They shall be used to calculate population-based territorial typologies. 

5.  Union  territorial  typologies,  as  referred  to  in  Article  4b,  shall  complement  the 
NUTS classification by attributing types to the territorial units.’; 

(2) 

(3) 

in Article 2, paragraph 5 is deleted; 

Article 3 is amended as follows: 

(a)  paragraph 4 is replaced by the following: 

‘4. The existing administrative units used for the NUTS classification are set out in 
Annex  II.  The  Commission  shall  be  empowered  to  adopt  delegated  acts  in 
accordance  with  Article  7a  to  adapt  Annex  II  on  the  basis  of  corresponding 
developments in the Member States.’; 

(b) 

in paragraph 5, the third subparagraph is replaced by the following: 

‘Some non-administrative units may, however, deviate from those thresholds because 
of  particular  geographical,  socioeconomic,  historical,  cultural  or  environmental 
circumstances, especially in the islands and the outermost regions.’; 

(4) 

Article 4 is replaced by the following: 

‘Article 4 

Local administrative units 

1.  In  each  Member  State,  local  administrative  units  (LAU)  shall  subdivide  NUTS 
level  3  into  one  or  two  further  levels  of  territorial  units.  At  least  one  of  the  LAU 
levels  shall  be  an  administrative  unit  as  defined  in  Article  3(1)  and  as  set  out  in 
Annex  III.  The  Commission  shall  be  empowered  to  adopt  delegated  acts  in 
accordance  with  Article  7a  to  adapt  the  list  of  LAU  in  Annex  III  on  the  basis  of 
corresponding developments in the Member States. 

2.  Within  the  first  six  months  of  each  year,  Member  States  shall  transmit  to  the 
Commission (Eurostat), with reference to 31 December of the previous year, the list 
of LAU indicating any changes and the NUTS 3 region they belong to. In doing so it 
shall follow the electronic data format requested by the Commission (Eurostat). 

3. The Commission (Eurostat) shall publish the list of LAU in the dedicated section 
of its website by 31 December of each year.’ 

(5) 

the following articles 4a and 4b are inserted: 

‘Article 4a 

Statistical grids 

The Commission (Eurostat) shall maintain and publish a system of statistical grids at 
Union level in the dedicated section of its website. The statistical grids shall conform 
to the specifications laid down in Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010(7). 

Article 4b 

Union territorial typologies 

7 

Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC 
of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  as  regards  interoperability  of  spatial  data  sets  and 
services (OJ L 323, 8.12.2010, p. 11). 

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1. The Commission (Eurostat) shall maintain and publish in the dedicated section of 
its  website  Union  typologies  composed  of  territorial  units  at  the  levels  of  NUTS, 
LAU and grid cells. 
2. The grid-based typology shall be established at the 1 km2 grid resolution level as 
follows: 

– 

– 

– 

‘urban centres’, 

‘urban clusters’, 

‘rural grid cells’. 

3. The following typologies shall be established at LAU level: 

(a) degree of urbanisation (DEGURBA): 

– 

‘Urban areas’: 

– 

– 

‘Cities’ or ‘Densely populated areas’, 

‘Towns and suburbs’ or ‘Intermediate density areas’, 

– 

‘Rural areas’ or ‘Thinly populated areas’; 

(b) functional urban areas: 

– 

 ‘Cities’ plus their ‘Commuting zones’; 

(c) coastal areas: 

– 

– 

‘Coastal areas’, 

‘Non-coastal areas’. 

If  there  is  more  than  one  administrative  level  of  LAU  in  a  Member  State,  the 
Commission  (Eurostat)  shall  consult 
the 
administrative level of LAU that shall be used for the attribution of typologies. 

that  Member  State 

to  determine 

4. The following typologies and labels shall be established at NUTS level 3. 

a) urban-rural typology: 

– 

– 

– 

‘Predominantly urban regions’, 

‘Intermediate regions’, 

‘Predominantly rural regions’; 

b) metropolitan typology: 

– 

– 

‘Metropolitan regions’, 

‘Non-metropolitan regions’; 

c) coastal typology: 

– 

– 

‘Coastal regions’, 

‘Non-coastal regions’. 

5. The Commission shall, by means of implementing acts, set out uniform conditions 
for the harmonised application of the typologies across Member States and at Union 
level. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination 
procedure referred to in Article 7.’; 

(6) 

Article 5 is amended as follows: 

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(a)  paragraph 4 is replaced by the following: 

‘4. Amendments to the NUTS classification shall be adopted in the second half of the 
calendar year, every three years at the earliest, on the basis of the criteria set out in 
Article  3.  Nevertheless,  if  there  is  a  substantial  reorganisation  of  the  relevant 
administrative  structure  of  a  Member  State,  the  amendments  to  the  NUTS 
classification may be adopted at shorter intervals. 

The  Commission  shall  be  empowered  to  adopt  delegated  acts  in  accordance  with 
Article 7a to adapt the NUTS classification in Annex I on the basis of corresponding 
developments  in  the  Member  States.  Regional  data  the  Member  States  send  to  the 
Commission (Eurostat) shall be based on the amended NUTS classification starting 
from 1 January of the second year after the adoption of the delegated act referred to 
in the first subparagraph.’; 

(b)  paragraph 5 is replaced by the following: 

‘5.  When  an  amendment  is  made  to  the  NUTS  classification,  the  Member  State 
concerned  shall  transmit  to  the  Commission  (Eurostat)  the  time  series  for  the  new 
regional breakdown, to replace data already transmitted. 

The  Commission  shall,  by  means  of  implementing  acts,  set  out  uniform  conditions 
for time series and their length, taking into account the feasibility of providing them. 
Those  implementing  acts  shall  be  adopted  in  accordance  with  the  examination 
procedure referred to in Article 7. 

The time series shall be supplied until 1 January of the fourth year after the adoption 
of a delegated act as referred to in paragraph 4.’; 

(7) 

Article 7 is replaced by the following: 

‘Article 7 

Committee procedure 

1. The Commission shall be assisted by the European Statistical System Committee. 
That  committee  shall  be  a  committee  within  the  meaning  of  Regulation  (EU) 
No 182/2011. 

2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5 of Regulation 182/2011 shall 
apply.’; 

(8) 

the following Article 7a is inserted: 

‘Article 7a 

Exercise of the delegation 

1. The power to adopt delegated acts is conferred on the Commission subject to the 
conditions laid down in this article. 

2.  The  power  to  adopt  delegated  acts  referred  to  in  Article  3(4),  Article  4(1)  and 
Article  5(4)  shall  be  conferred  on  the  Commission  for  an  indeterminate  period  of 
time  from  [Publications  Office:  please  insert  exact  date  of  entry  into  force  of  this 
Regulation]. 

3. The delegation of power referred to in Article 3(4), Article 4(1) and Article 5(4) 
may  be  revoked  at  any  time  by  the  European  Parliament  or  by  the  Council.  A 
decision  of  revocation  shall  put  an  end  to  the  delegation  of  the  power  specified  in 
that decision. It shall take effect on the day following the publication of the decision 

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in the Official Journal of the European Union or at a later date specified therein. It 
shall not affect the validity of any delegated acts already in force. 

4. Before adopting a delegated act, the Commission shall consult experts designated 
by  each  Member  State  in  accordance  with  the  principles  laid  down  in  the 
Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making of 13 April 2016. 

5. As soon as it adopts a delegated act, the Commission shall notify it simultaneously 
to the European Parliament and to the Council. 

6.  A  delegated  act  adopted  pursuant  to  Article  3(4),  Article  4(1)  and  Article  5(4) 
shall enter into force only if no objection has been expressed either by the European 
Parliament or by the Council within a period of two months of notification of that act 
to the European Parliament and the Council or if, before the expiry of that period, the 
European Parliament and the Council have both informed the Commission that they 
will not object. That period shall be extended by two months at the initiative of the 
European Parliament or the Council.’; 

(9) 

Article 8 is deleted. 

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in 
the Official Journal of the European Union. 

Article 2 

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. 

Done at Brussels, 

For the European Parliament 
The President 

For the Council 
The President 

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